Chris Smalling pays price for living under the gaze of Big Brother

The fancy dress indiscretion of Smalling, right, provides another little hint at how life at Old Trafford has changed in the past few monthsBarrington Coombs/Empics

Ask any player from years gone by about the world of the modern Premier League footballer and they will all say the same thing: “Thank God it wasn’t like this for us.”

The sort of fancy-dress party that has landed Chris Smalling in such trouble has long been a staple of the footballer’s calendar, usually at Christmas. I don’t remember anyone dressing up as a suicide bomber, as the Manchester United and England defender did, but there were certainly some questionable costumes and some equally questionable behaviour.

I remember going to a Celtic do one year dressed up as Popeye. Not offensive, of course, but I was having a bad time of it on the pitch that season and fans spent the next few months…